Free Thunder (Alpha Love - a Paranormal Werewolf Shifter Romance Book 3) by Olivia Stephens Page A

of character for him.
    “This isn’t him. It was just a funny five minutes, that’s all. If Luke has any sense, he won’t let idle talk change his opinion of Darwin,” Sofie says with more conviction than she feels.
    “I agree; it isn’t him. True, he’s been acting weird for the past few weeks, but I’ve never known Darwin to get mad. Frustrated, irritated—yes, especially with me.” Finn grins impishly at this. “But not angry like you’re describing.”
    “Well, that’s what happened. I don’t know how else to describe it.” Sofie throws her hands up in frustration and thinks, How has today just gone from bad to worse? She rubs her head where a persistent ache is most definitely blooming.
    “Don’t you go all weird on me, too,” Finn says, looking at her apprehensively. “What’s going on?” He peers at her from over his glasses like a psychiatrist.
    “Just a bad morning,” Sofie says and smiles wearily up at him.
    “Anything that a good latte won’t cure?” Finn looks impossibly excited at the prospect of this, and it’s only in part for Sofie’s welfare.
    “Nice try, Finnbarr. I know you hate the coffee here, but we’re not getting a fancy schmancy machine. Luke would never sign off on it. For a billionaire, he can be pretty cheap.” Sofie shakes her head in despair—although she has to admit it’s nice to have this kind of banal argument after the last 24 hours that she’s had.
    “Alright mean boss-lady. Fine! But don’t come crying to me when you need a real caffeine fix!” Finn looks at her expectantly, as if he thinks she might change her mind. When it becomes apparent that she will not be moved, he sighs theatrically. “Well, I guess I’ll get back to doing whatever it is that you want me to be doing today.” He waves vaguely towards the outside of the office, about to head out of the door before he turns around, a comically perplexed expression on his face. “What is it that you want me to do?”
    “Have you finished working on our tech problem?” She looks at him in surprise as he nods his head proudly. Even for Finn, that was quick work. “Okay, well I guess that means you have a little time on your hands?”
    “More than a little. The stuff the engineers have me doing is child’s play. I barely need to be awake to do it. I don’t get why they’re wasting my talents here, in the land of no Starbucks when I could be of much more use back at HQ.” Finn pouts like a small child, but he draws the line at stamping his feet.
    “They’re wasting your talents here because I asked them to. I told Luke that I needed you on the team because you’re the best.” Sofie immediately regrets the words once they’re out of her mouth. “Not that you need to be reminded of that.”
    “Well, it doesn’t hurt.” Finn’s expression tells her that he’s coming round from his sulk.
    “Anyway, if you’re free then there is something…personal I could use you looking into.” Sofie scribbles down some numbers on a scrap of paper.
    “Personal? For you, Braun, anything. It’s not anything to do with your lady bits, is it?” He looks terrified at the thought.
    “No, Finn, not that kind of personal.” He breathes an audible sigh of relief, as Sofie hands him over the paper. “Those are my bank account details. I had a little…problem, getting some cash out this morning. An error message I’ve never seen before, and then it ate my card. It was weird, and we’ve had a lot of weird tech stuff go on recently. I figured you might be able to take a look?” Sofie keeps the information down to the basics, there’s only so much that Finn needs to know.
    “You’re asking me to hack into a bank?” Finn looks at her in shock. This was a big deal, she knew that, and she suddenly realizes that she should never have asked him to do this.
    “You’re right. Forget it. Pretend I didn’t say anything.” Sofie goes to take the scrap out of his fingers, but Finn holds it close to his